With this interview, I start my new article series called ‘The Traveling Coach’ where I am going to write and share travel-related articles from a psychological point of view. In my first article, you can read a highly inspiring interview with Adorján Illés, who cycled through the world in the past 4 years. I am glad that Adorján has accepted my interview invitation as I got the motivation and encouragement from him to start this article-series.
I asked Adorján 7 questions(after all, there are 7 continents on our Earth) and I focused on the psychological perspective of globetrotting. I hope that the questions and the answers will provide you with a useful guideline if you are facing a big adventure.
1. Many would like to achieve different goals or face certain challenges in their lives which at first seem almost impossible. They have doubts and fears that prevent them from walking on the path. Or they get stuck at one point and they don’t dare to take charge of their path with full responsibility. I think that your attitude is the total opposite of that. You made a firm decision to cycle around the globe and you kept moving forward through fire and water literally and figuratively at the same time. What helped you? What was the attitude, the sentence, the motivation, or a concrete life situation that helped you get started?
Several things have come to my mind even when you just listed these. I think it’s important that when we come up with something, we should be ready to let go of our desire too. For example, if it doesn’t work out, you don’t have to stick to it kicking and screaming. We just need to send that desire up into the Universe and say that this is gonna happen. That’s it. If it’s not gonna happen then it is not going to happen. It doesn’t matter. We can only truly appreciate our fulfilled desires if they come from the heart. So, it is worth setting goals and plans which come from within. Goals and plans we can vividly imagine, such as how good it would be to meet someone. I think it helps a lot. I started my bicycle expedition in 2015. A year before, in 2014, I took part in a Tony Robbins seminar that greatly supported my decision. In 2015 I participated in his seminar again, this time, as a volunteer, and I gained a lot of useful experience. I decided that once I was in Fiji, I’d like to plant a tree there at Tony Robbins’ Resort as a token of my appreciation. In 2017 I managed to get to Fiji and accomplish this goal. When I came up with this idea, I didn’t have any deadlines for when I wanted to reach it. There is a strategy for when you set your objectives and set a time frame as well. However, I just simply send my wish up into the universe and there will be, what will be. In the first part of my expedition, I cycled through Asia then I traveled to Australia, then to New-Zealand, and from there, I flew to my next destination which was Fiji. Fiji Islands consist of two main islands and about 300 small islands, of which only100 are inhabited. I cycled half of the first island, Viti Levu, then I took a ferry to the neighboring big island, Vanua Levu,to get to the resort. One of my friends, Imi (who attended all the Tony Robbins events), knows Mr. Robbins’ chief gardener. He gave me the gardener’s phone number, and I called him and told him that I wanted to plant a tree in the resort. He said it’s okay if I could arrange a tree to plant. This was on a Saturday when everything was closed in Fiji. One thing about Fiji, it is worth knowing that most people live in villages. This evening I ended up staying in a village. I had to talk to the village chief so I introduced myself: “Good evening! My name is Adorján Illés. I travel around the globe and I am looking for free accommodation for the evening. Can you help me?”Much to my delight, the village chief said yes. The Fijian people are super cool, and I could stay in the village chief’s house. I played with the kids and I found out they knew Mr. Robbins. This village was just a few kilometers away from the resort. I told the village chief that I wanted to plant a tree, but I couldn’t get saplings anywhere because the shops were closed. The village chief told me to calm down, and that he would talk to the wise men and they would arrange everything. The following morning, they brought me a baby orange tree. They handed over the tree, I said goodbye to them,and returned to the resort where the gardener was waiting for me and helet me in. I could plant the orange tree on the edge of the golf course. I documented the whole process with photos and videos. There was a guestbook in the resort too, where I wrote down the whole story before I left. I noticed that these,and similar stories evolve by simply sending up my request to the universe without any expectations. On one hand, I believed in it without clinging to it. On the other hand, I always believe that the very best solution will happen to me either way. “Surprise me, Life!”
2.What is it that fosters this 100% commitment despite the doubts and fears?
Our most important daily practice should be to strengthen our self-confidence and faith in life, and when challenges come,we need to accept them even though they seem uncomfortable or unpleasant. They are uncomfortable and unpleasant because we have to do something in which we haven’t yet developed a routine. We are afraid (so we fantasize negatively) that we won’t be successful. We learn by action. It’s like a toddler learning. When you were a kid, things went easier because you weren’t afraid. You started cycling, you fell ten or a hundred times, but when you fell, you stood up. Courage and confidence are crucial and are learnable. The other important factor is that you need to develop a morning routine. My morning routine is that right when I wake up I circulate the energy in my body. I feel that life is beautiful. I am grateful. We can sense the beauty of life and the flow of love at any depth. We are endless as it is the whole world. What if anything can happen within a nanosecond? Why would it take half an hour? My second idea is to ask myself: How could this idea be one billion times cooler for everyone? Other times I like playing with visualization. For example, I need more courage so I imagine that elves are sitting inside of me, in front of a controlling system or center, like in front of a DJ deck, and they are turning all the knobs up to the maximum. Emotionally, I feel more powerful and I feel a deeper connection after these type of exercises. During my 4 year-long cycling expedition, I often got very close to a near-ecstasy state. From morning to night I felt fantastic, whatever I did. My nervous system learned this great feeling so I can create it anytime, and it is now part of my daily routine. It’s like tying your shoelaces: You don’t have to think about it anymore. You automatically do it. I automatically feel great in my skin.
3. What advice would you give to those who want to take a trip around the world, start their own business or start-up, or face any challenges which requires an entire out of the comfort zone experience? What do you think can help them in this case? What can they rely on? What could you rely on?
There is a technique that came to my mind: As soon as the idea, the vision,or the intuition comes,you have to act immediately on that! You need to act IMMEDIATELY! This is the technique, and truly immediately! 5 seconds later it might be late because you start pondering on the outcomes and what if it’s not going to be a successful endeavor. What if this or that happens,etc…It is the same as working out in the gym. You are going to get better and better every day. You can improve this habit by looking inward and if the intuition comes, you can tune into it and act right away! This way life becomes very beautiful: Even though you don’t know what happens next, you can experience that all seconds in life are for you: Things happen for your own sake. Whatever you wish for, with trust and action, you can manifest that.
4.So, is trust boosted by immediate action?
Yes, and it can be boosted if you practice this method and observe what kind of results you get later, if you act from inspiration. You’ll experience whether the method is working for you or not. For example, if your dream is to become a painter and you have the idea to call a grand master who can teach you how to paint, but you are scared to do so. Then you summon all your courage and you call the painter. He picks up the phone and as a result of the call, you can go tomorrow at 8 a.m. and you can learn how to paint. Life immediately gives you feedback that it was a good thing to call him. If you practice this, you will experience that it works. I think it works because we can do anything in life and anything is possible. Whenever I set a new goal, my dad used to wish,“good luck” to me. Sometimes I tell him that I don’t believe in luck. In life, there are opportunities and effects, and when we listen to our intuition, things start taking shape, because we are connected to the wholeness and you can be part of a miracle. Preparation meets opportunity and synchronicities occur.
5.It is so inspiring, whenever we talk. From an outer point of view, you seem to always keep the inner balance and stability in life. What can you rely on to create and keep this harmony all the time?
I have been interested in the topics of meditation, success, psychology, and self-knowledge for a long time. I have meditated regularly for nearly ten years and as time passed,I became more and more self-aware. This journey around the globe helped me a lot and took me to an advanced level. Although the term,‘level’ doesn’t cover the whole truth, this is just what our linear thinking suggests. I love life, everything is great and I learnednot to hurt or criticize myself. I see life as an opportunity,and as a beautiful thing. One of the main conclusions of this 4-year-long trip was this: Life is a beautiful joke. We sense that life is going on around us: We have our job, relationship, children, money, success, and health. However, life has a broader and deeper spectrum if we live in the present moment and if we can perceive the sacred existence of ourselves. Everything supports us and we “just” exist and smile.
6.Was there any situation during your expedition when you were uncertain or confused? If so, how did you solve it? What did you do?
Perhaps one of the hardest situations was in Japan. I was on the road for 2,5 years and I fell off my bike and broke my left wrist. I went to a hospital where they x-rayed my wrist and said I had to have surgery,and if I had surgery, I wouldn’t be able to ride for half a year. The doctor immediately noticed on my face that I didn’t want to stay in one place for half a year, so he advised me to fly home and have the operation there, but this was not an option for me either. I felt I was ditched. After the medical examination, I called my parents and told them what happened and that I would continue the expedition,as I had already completed half of it. My dad told me on the phone that even though they were super excitedfor me to arrive home, if I had gotten this far in my journey I should finish it. This inspiring conversation reinforced my determination to refuse the operation and rather heal my wrist myself. I left the hospital and I bought a glove-like thing in the pharmacy that stabilized my wrist. I knew I wanted to focus all my attention on the healing process, and for that, I had to stop for a month. What a ‘coincidence’, a few days after the accident I met a super cool, young Japanese guy, named Yoshi, who allowed me to live with him for a month completely free. I woke up early every day at Yoshi’s and I started the day with meditation, praying,and breathing exercises. I felt that more action was needed in order to recover as soon as possible, so I bought a notebook, which I called my personal diary. I started communicating with myself honestly through this diary to fully understand why my accident had happened. Everything happens for a reason. I turned my whole being to healing. During the healing process, I realized, among other things, that I had not taken the time to rest in the previous years. I was just cycling and cycling almost every single day. I became very exhausted. After this discovery, I realized that I didn’t allow myself to rest. I was travelling with the thought and pressure on my shoulders that this is a tour around the globe which means that I need to arrive back home, so I continuously need to be on the road. During my time at Yoshi’s, I learned a lot about Japanese culture: I learned languages, made new friends, and after a month, I was ready to continue the expedition. 1,5 months after the accident (in the last week of my stay in Japan),I went to another hospital in Osaka for an MRI scan of my wrist. The doctor stated that he didn’t see any sign of a fracture. My wrist was completely healed and it hasn’t hurt since then. The secret is that the answer is within us to all the questions that arise in our lives. To all the questions! The answers may not come right away, but they will. The trick is to always listen to our heart. I heard one of my favorite sayings from an Australian guy: “Stop thinking, start feeling.” This has become one of my favourite pearls of wisdom that teaches us not to overthink, but to feel and act.
7.My final question: I think many live in their heads and find it difficult to relate to their feelings or express them in any way. How do you think the feeling-intuition dimensions can be strengthened?
One of the best practices is just to focus on your breathing. I was cycling 4-5-6 hours every single day and devoted a lot of time to get to know myself through the breathing exercises. I often sang or listened to music while I was looking inward. It was working well for me as I found looking inward/perception intriguing. While I was in Australia, near Sydney, I could go to a vipassana meditation retreat which was developed by Buddha 2500 years ago. Buddha, or Siddharta, was a prince who told his father that he would not be the king. Instead, he went on a pilgrimage. He meditated every day, he looked inward, and after a while, he sharpened his perception to the extent he could feel his organs. 2500 years ago he knew where his lungs, kidneys, liver and intestines were. He felt everything. He was very pleased with this so he continued his practice and later on, he could sense that our organs are made of atoms. He continued his research and concluded that everything is vibration, just by meditating and looking inward! 2500 years ago! Our bodies and existence area wonderful, finely-tuned quantum computer. We can do a lot. Observation helps attunement. In other words: “Where focus goes, energy flows.” I have chosen to focus on love, peace, joy and fulfillment. Thank you.
If you became inspired by reading this article and want to face new, exciting challenges or achieve certain goals and you are still looking for the right direction and the next steps, contact me via the e-mail below:
